*Afterthoughts & Addenda* *Login issues* - a few people have suggested that Monica's difficulty at login is a security feature that denies login if you are logged in somewhere else. I tested this with a different account and it appears Wish has no such feature. (Also if it did, would you really expect the response message to be denial of the existence of the account/email address?)
Perhaps they suspected when a new user bought the same scam products as you, I suppose that statistically it is very rare that two different users fall victim to two identical scams.
The final point about this potentially being a data-harvesting exercise really is a good one. Such an effective way to amass a list of gullible people online with minimal risk...
yes, personally I think that's the most likely angle. Even if it's just to have a database to harvest for future drop shipping, I'd think that Mike and his details are the product here.
I guess they have to get the contact details for scams from somewhere, relying on phishing emails and cold calling can't be that successful. Conning hopeful Westerners with the promise of a cheap trinket could be quite effective.
I can somewhat tell what the risk is here, because my wife was scammed a couple of years ago. Short story: My wife (assumed tagged as gullible by Wish) had a run with their app and put a small order. However - later that year, she was billed a large bill for a huge list of items not being ordered (we also later found that the order was placed after the app was uninstalled, so it couldn't be her) nor being delivered, nor getting any order confirmation. Unfortunately we had to fight the billing company (that was totally on wish's side) for more than a whole year before they dropped the case - the billing company used false claims several times, but I called them out on every false claim, also when they tried to sell the bill to other billing companies they didn't succeeded (of course, because they could never provide any evidence that any order was made).
It's actually very, very common. Scammers know that when they find the right victim they can bleed them for every cent they have and beyond that way into debt. This is why entry level scams are often so seemingly poorly made. They don't want the people who spot the spelling mistakes in a phishing e-mail. They could make it look for real, but that'd only get them more people who'd still figure out they're being scammed at thr next stage.
Thanks so much for this video, Mike. I’m nearly 70 and am very grateful for the internet, because I live alone and I’m partially disabled. I get everything I need online, so because of your careful explanations and way of describing how scams work, without being judgemental or ‘know it all’, I’ve learned to be wary and I hope I’m taking care of myself with regard to internet scams. A lot of people seem to think it’s easy to spot scams, but if everyone could see it so clearly, the scammers would have no successes and would probably give up! So I’m going to carry on watching and learning. Take care.
I'm in a similar position and I have to rely on everything being ordered online. I've watched a few of the channels exposing the scammers and their techniques and I try to get that info out to others. I know someone who is a retired lawyer and even THEY fell for a telephone scam. The more honest you are in your day to day life sometimes makes us an easier target because we're not going to automatically think that people would be so nasty. All the best.
Thankfully for you, scams even existed back then in magazine and newspaper ads, and don't forget "As Seen on TV". The biggest problem is that these scammers are reaching way more people, plus those old mediums had to have SOME form of screening before letting anybody advertise on there.
The general takeaway is that there are normally enough reputable sellers on your own continent to make a lot of these Chinese scam sites a waste of time and money.
I think it's also about the price of the product. As you said, the lengthy process to get a refund can make people think "that's too much trouble for only 18$"
My unproven theory is that wish has a too many failed login attempts security feature. So once the scammer gets your order they take the email address and try to login with random passwords until your account locks up. This obviously makes it even more difficult to cancel the order.
Shouldn't they then have a system to send an automated alert to the email address that multiple login attempts had been made? To avoid Wish being accused of complacency with or even facilitators of these scams?
That or because he mentioned still being logged in on the original pc which might have blocked logging in from a second pc at the same time. No idea but one thing is very clear, Wish is full of scams and seem oddly complicit with the fact.
Right? It was crazy enough that they refunded him and kept the product pages up, but then blocking the second email to try to avoid having to give a refund?? That's criminal.
I don't think he's right. I don't think there are any scammers at all. The most likely explanation is that Wish is selling these products, and refunding the full amount later, without ever taking the principal, but it is placing the money in an investment, and pocketing the interest on between the time of purchase and time of refund. At any one point in time, there could be tens of millions in the account, constantly rotating between customers, leading to perhaps hundreds of thousands of profit annually depending on investment.
@SergyMilitaryRankings not even close. Ebay protects the buyers. I received a broken item. Tried to be reasonable with the seller. Seller told me to essentially eff off. I opened an ebay claim. Ebay had me send the package back on the sellers dime and I received a refund 100%.
It's somewhat normal for websites to say that if you try to login with a wrong password even for an account that exists to prevent hackers from figuring out what are valid accounts
@@bobson_dugnuttIsn’t it more likely to say ‘the email or password is incorrect’, so it’s still vague. I think the ultimate test would be if he tried to reset the password, see if it comes in his inbox, reset it and then try to login
Several years ago, I ordered one thing from Wish. A plush of my favorite anime character at the time. It was around $20, what I expected for the plush tbh, and it was to ship within 2 weeks of the purchase. 2 weeks passed, it was supposed to have been shipped as I received the email that the order was processed as well as a tracking number that actually seemed accurate but had remained stuck in what I assume now was some sort of baggage claim at an airport in China. I did dispute with wish and was refunded after 2 months. 2 years pass and imagine my surprise when I actually receive the item and it's actually nice quality and looks exactly as advertised. Such a weird experience, far from what you'd expect from Wish nowadays.
I'm so glad someone actually ordered them. I know it's bad to give scammers money or anything like that but I've always wanted to see what would happen if you just went with it lol
@@technoman9000 He probably will, but that money might be coming out of Wish's pocket, rather than the sellers'. If the seller already took their money and ran away there is little chance of getting it back from them. In this case, he got a refund pretty quickly, so likely the seller never got the money, but there was no way of knowing that would be the case beforehand. If the "shipping" took a month or more like stuff from China usually does, the seller would probably already have taken the money and ran by the time it came to disputing the order. So in short, getting a refund doesn't necessarily mean you won over the scammer. They know how to game the system, how to prolong the whole process so that they can get money from as many people as possible before anybody opens or successfully gets a dispute approved, and once they have the money in their bank account there is nothing anybody can do to get it back from them. If they didn't, these scams would never work because as soon as the first person filed a dispute all their transactions would be made null and void and they would never see any of the money.
I'd ordered a jacket from Wish, and never got it...and then had to tell them multiple times that it was never delivered, when they insisted it had been. A few days later, I got a full refund from Wish, and that was that. The strange thing was that the jacket actually, finally arrived...about a whole month later. I think they may have just sent me one to avoid being revealed as a scam, and used the jacket they sent as a loss leader to cover for it.
Isn't it possible that it was stuck in customs the whole time and they just knew it was arrived in your country? I swear I don't work for Wish I'm just curious
@@n0one555 I ordered sth from Amazon once. I live in Germany, the item was being shipped from Canada. It was supposed to take 10-14 days. Still hadn't arrived after a month, so I messaged them. They shipped a new one which arrived in about five days. Funnily enough, the original order did eventually arrive, about two and a half months after I had placed the order. I got to keep both, since it wasn't a particularly expensive item, just wasn't available in Germany.
Really sketchy, especially Wish blocking log-in. With the earlier stuff that happened, also think it's likely they were just protecting their rep while being 100% complicit. Thanks Mike for going to the effort to use a pseudonym and separate address to see how your public image might impact stuff. Reckon the profit is a numbers game - I'm not diligent enough and often can't be bothered dealing with a lengthy refund process. I never even registered until the end that the money might not have been the goal but your details. Guess I'm just used to all sorts of sketchy sources knowing my details by now, from data breaches to scummy marketing practices to social media harvesting.
I had a similar issue with a Wish login a few years back. Thing is, I'd never even ordered anything on that account. But when I tried to log in with details I knew were correct, it told me the account didn't exist. But I was receiving emails to that address, and if I tried to use it to sign up again, it told me the email was in use! The fact I'd never ordered something made me think it wasn't shenanigans from Wish, just poor coding/design. I don't know if this can be said in Shrimp's case, given the suspicious timing of the problem cropping up, but there is the old adage about incompetence and malice
I would be surprised to learn that there were more than a handful of legitimate sellers on Wish, to be honest. And I expect that the website's primary function is data mining, anyway.
ebay too. Ebay locked my account after asking for a refund after being scammed. They made the entire process tedious and tried to act like I was the criminal for being scammed lmao. Took me 3 weeks to finally get a refund.
"Maybe the real scam hasn't started yet?" oh OH I generally think of myself as relatively scam aware but when someone come out and hits you with a blind spot like that, geez. Thanks Shrimp for that food for thought
Yep, I remember that comment from a few videos back. It's the Dunning-Kruger Effect in all it's glory for all the world to see in that comment. It's that person essentially saying; "PSH! You're not smart like ME. I don't get scammed when I buy data storage, because I can right click and go to properties to see the drive size. You just don't have the connections I got bro! I can get storage for 1$ per 1TB because I've got: "marketing skills"! I'm way too smart to be scammed, and you're just not smart like me. Which is why you get scammed so much!" Which is hilarious to me... because they're _somehow_ assuming or implying that Mike (Shrimp) "gets scammed" at all. Which, while possible, (since, anyone can get got under the right circumstances) is certainly NOT what's happening in any of his videos. (or at least, not _really,_ since he's going into it knowing it's a scam and doing it purely for _OUR_ benefit.) At the same time... I also try to remind myself of what Shrimp has told us.... And I know ridiculing this person isn't the answer. As aggressively confident, and aggressively WRONG as they are... they are, at the core of it, just misguided and mistaken. If they were to properly check their purchased devices, they would find that it's as he says it is, and that they are fake. The day they lose important data, they will think back to what Mike said, and feel very silly and foolish. I can only hope the lesson isn't too punishing for them, when they realize that they actually *WERE* scammed.
I love this video, I am going to show this to my grandma who likes to lead on phone call scammers. She will drag them on for hours, "let me go find my card" "oh no I can't find it" "HONEY DID YOU LEAVE THE CARD AT YOUR NIECE'S AGAIN" "Give me 20 minutes, she lives right down the road" "oh shit, I dropped it under the couch" She gives them excuse after excuse, and either leads them along until they hang up, or she laughs at them and calls them out if she gets bored first
One time, my mother ordered a carpet for her bathroom. She paid it for about $1. I've though it was really cheap but, well, I can found these for about $5 on shops like IKEA. She indeed recieved a carpet just ... the seller "ommited" that it was a carpet ... for doll houses :p
It's important to note that some banks (well, mine in the UK at least) provide a refund process for small online payment scams such as these. If Wish locks you out of your account, filing a chargeback is generally an effective way to force it to pay up.
Not only that, but if a business has high chargeback rate Visa and MasterCard would put them on monitoring programs, higher fees etc and if they keep on getting high chargeback rates eventually the card networks simply won't work with the business. Also, video posted 3d ago, your comment is from 6d ago? 🤔
@@V-Dawg Probably a reposted video. He may have posted it got a few replies and then briefly took the video down for some reason (possibly an edit), only to then repost it again a few days later. Either that or the commenter really is a time traveler...
I was wondering if it's not Wish, but the scammers trying themselves to get the account closed. Trying to login too many times, resetting their password too many times etc...
@@edsloan good thinking. However, I think we can all agree that Wish is far from a reliable marketplace. Somehow, this 'working with scammers' cospiracy doesn't surprise me as much as I thought it would.
@edsloan that's an interesting idea. As someone prone to forgetting which passwords go with which accounts, they usually reset after 24 hours of locking one out for too many failed login attempts. However, I don't imagine the systems of honest businesses shut down the account completely after a set number of failed attempts. I usually end up resetting the password and using my fingerprint to login going forward. 🙃
@@edsloan In the case, Monica likely would have gotten an email notice about failed login attempts, or about an account lockdown in response to repeated failed attempts.
Hey Mike! On the subject of scams, could you shed some light on those seemingly innocent Facebook posts where you comment your first pet name, and the street you grew up on, to get your “adult actor” name? (An alternative is matching your date of your birthday to a word and the month to another word, see the infamous meme “moon moon”) I didn’t realise until recently but they ask these very specific questions as they’re often banking security questions!
@@danitho and with a Facebook account they have access to your full name, and possibly your birthday too if you haven’t gone to the trouble of privatising it!
Your comment is a prime example of why I should read the complete statement before forming an opinion! 😂 I did not know where you were going with that but as the above commenter said; Good catch! Thanks for sharing.
I have an idea on why you couldn't log in. The scammers might be compromising the wish account by trying to login with the incorrect password. Making it look like a hack and blocking the account. This just creates another hurdle for the user to file a claim because they can't login to the account. Just a thought 🤔
As Jessica says, the message would not then be "We can't seem to find your account". Proper customer service would be a proactive message directly to Monica saying that the account had been locked after multiple failed login attempts, and offering a resolution. The apparent lockout is not a good look for Wish, at the bare minimum.
Another option is that Monica's password has been compromised and is listed in a credential dump, the scammers logged in using those leaked passwords and changed the login email. Mike can check via haveibeenpwned If this is the case, just like in the video, the login token would still work on the original browser, but you couldn't log in from another machine. If the password hasn't been compromised, this points to either wish being part of the scam or that they have an internal policy of closing scammed accounts (with no / little other history?) instead of refunding them. Scammers likely have created accounts, bought their own scam products, scammers type in a tracking code to get paid - and then the new accounts demand refunds, which wish has to refund or it get strikes against its merchant account. If the Monica account was created in a VM / on a vpn, it will look extra suspicious.
What would be funny, but I think is unlikely, would be if Wish softblocked the account because some security AI ran the data and recognized that Monica wasn't a real person, or living at the address provided. I just made that up, but it sounds like it could be a security feature on a more legitimate site. Naturally, on Wish it would be a joke if that were actually the case while the most obvious scam listings continue to operate.
It seems Wish disabled your account... but did not expire your authentication token. So as long as that machine stays on, etc and still holds on to that cookie with the authentication token you will remain logged in until it eventually expires (if it ever does lol)
I also think it might have been a miscommunication thing. OR the seller was trying to have access to the account and prevented it by disabling it. Just that wish is notorious for poor communication.....
@@lightdreamer_ No, that's not an option. Wish's parent company is based in California. California has specific laws stating you are REQUIRED to notify people when their personal information is breached or is assumed to be breached. If they allowed someone to make login attempts like that and didn't say anything, that's a lawsuit they can't turn around.
I got two refunds off Wish before they blocked me, one for a phone, one for a drone. Took literal days trying to sort the first one out, I feel your pain. The bot is purposely programmed to be an idiot I think.
My dad did this once. He bought a "mini excavator" through a facebook ad for like $100, knowing it was likely BS, but kind of hoping he had found a ridiculous deal. 4 months later an 8 inch plastic package came, labeled "mini excavator". It contained a pair of earrings that looked like they had been punched out of a 1mm sheet of metal. 😂 In the end, he got a full refund, but I think he was disappointed that he didn't get the chance to turn the tables and BE the scammer. Lol
You've gotta be particular with this. The only places you can do that really is funnily on legit websites by catching mislabeled prices or discounts and pouncing on it quick or, more commonly, on open market places like gumtree, facebook marketplace and find people selling something that they don't seem to know the value of, or just seem a bit... yeah. I've gotten some brilliant deals on middle-age women and old people selling computer parts real cheap because they had no clue of the price. Heard of someone who found a GPU in a thrift store for like 20 dollars before lol. If someones paying to advertise it, nah not gonna happen.
@@jesusramirezromo2037 yeah, that would at least resemble the product and let them say that they sold what they advertised, trying to wind themselves out.
I will say, even after you report it as a scam, they dont take it down. My mom got tricked by a chair (willingly, I told her it was bs but she really wanted that hanging chair for $20). She got a child's camping stool, not even chair with back just stool. We only got like half back as they kept arguing we got _something_ and we recently got an ad for another chair lmao
Tricked is when you don't know it's a scam, but you told her it was nonsense from the beginning and she insisted anyway. What you described is more like masochism.
Someone I know ordered a laser cutter/engraver type of thing off of Facebook for $200. I was suspicious when they showed me the page, it seemed like type of thing would be in the $500+ range. But it was some off brand so it could have been possible I guess. Anyway, a few months later I asked about it, and they said they completely forgot about it. It never showed up. They didn't care enough to dispute the charge and get a refund. I suspect that's the hope for a lot of these things. Some people have a tendency to buy a lot of things online, and then forget about them until they show up. I don't understand that mentality but I think it's fairly common.
right, i rarely ever buy stuff from the internet but when i do i always think about it, it seems so surreal for me to just spend so much money with things online and then forget about it!! like, you're wasting so much money!!!
if you are in the US, never ever ever buy a "fuel filter" from wish. you will be visited by the ATF, because that fuel filter is basically a firearm suppressor with one hole not drilled. and the ATF is the one running the scam. I ordered 2 rolls of 3D printer filament from wish. I got 2 rolls of paper towels. it took multiple times to get them to give me a refund. each time they insisted the rolls of towels were indeed 3D printer filament.
The fact that Wish actually locked you (Monica) out of your (Monica's) account is, I think, the most terrifying aspect of this whole thing. They'e OBVIOUSLY in on it. That's a really big deal, and I don't think you're as upset as you should be.
It could also be that their system detected a recently created account with just two orders from suspected fraud accounts and linked it as suspicious or colluding
@@AppleSauceGamingChannel I mean, I doubt 2 orders are enough to get flagged by such a system. I made a new account just to order a Rasperry Pi on another website. Would I be a fraudster if I ordered 2 instead?
A Poster had a theory on why "Monica's," Account was locked was because the Scammers were constantly trying to hack into Monica's Account and kept putting the wrong password, so Wish automatically thought,"This is a Hacker trying to hack into Monica's Account, otherwise they wouldn't keep putting the wrong password. We're blocking Monica's Account." Good theory. 🤔
@@AppleSauceGamingChannel that is I think I possible explanation, as likely as it is for Wish to be in with the scammers, I don't think they would take that much legal risks. Wish systems may have detected Monica as a potential money laundering scheme, someone could easily buy a bunch of stuff with dirty money, sell it on ebay for the price they bought it at and buy it themselves, they don't make any profit, but the money they have is now Wish money, whish is clean.
The most intriguing part is that -locked- deleted account; I would love for you to look into that. Multiple emails and addresses would probably be necessary (PO boxes perhaps) but I'm really curious how often that happens. That's incredibly fishy. I definitely think there's a bigger story here, if someone is willing to dig into it.
I assume there’s a way for the seller to ban user accounts, maybe even just lock them out for some time period. Doesn’t make sense for wish to be involved, the risk to them for stealing users money certainly costs more than the 20$ they steal
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 there's no way "theres a way for the seller to ban user accounts". I mean Wish is nearly a scam in itself but if they allowed that then who WOULDNT ban you immediately after you bought their product if it meant they got to keep the money and didnt have to deliver anything? Not only would *every* scammer do that but so would the legitimate sellers if there was no risk to them. There may be some kind of report feature but there's no way a seller could just outright ban a customer by themselves.
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 A merchant being able to ban customers from a platform makes no sense at all. As a platform operator, you don't give that sort of power to any client. Even on a scam platform, users being able to login are your business asset #1 here. That he was unable to login, yet perform actions as this account at the other machine is a huge red flag and has almost no other explanation than wish being a part in the foul game here, although it's possible here that just part of the staff has gone rogue and upper management just sees the results within the framing of "annual customer refunds" and doesn't suspect much.
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 Wish is supposed to be a marketplace for independent sellers. There's no way that any of those sellers should be able to straight-up ban users.
I once ordered a £1 set of pixelated sunglasses from wish, and the Seller literally just sent me an envelope with 2 buisness cards in, Its likely the scammers use these cheap transactions that no one is going to contest as their shipping information.
Could be Wish is using the money during the time it takes to get your refund. They still make interest on funds in transit. And in the case of Ali Baba, more than half says to themselves I don't want to go through all that to gwt my $10 back. Lastly if you do, your account is flagged. Scammed!
The "faintly ridiculous" dispute process is fairly common in my experience, in the US anyway. Big box retailers that have sent stuff to me lost on route pulled the same crap. Make sure to check everywhere, ask your neighbors, wait a few more days because sometimes products are marked as delivered early (bullcrap btw), etc. Except these weren't even bots, it was customer service employees on their payroll.
I have actually had a package come in later - marked delivered, got a replacement shipment delivered 2 weeks later, then got the original shipment nearly a month later. FedEx works in mysterious ways
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 happen with me on Amazon before bought a bday gift never came they sent out a new one. With in 3 days the replacement came, 2 months later got the same package (the one that never came)
It happens in Europe as well. I'm not quite sure which service it was, but apparently, they didn't require a signature of the recipient (which is quite stupid), and the delivery driver and customer service stated that he (the delivery driver) actually delivered the parcel (which is only possible if he hands it over to the recipient IN PERSON). Even more infuriating than their unwillingness to help was the fact that the contents were quite expensive, as well as the fact that it was the last package my late grandmother sent, which were usually stuffed to the brim with sweets and presents. I honestly think that the courier stole it. It's the only logical explanation. And sadly that scummy company seems to be all too complacent about it as well.
The "marked as delivered early" thing has actually happened to me before with Amazon. I had already gotten them to resend it since I filed a dispute as soon as it was marked delivered without actually being delivered, but then the originally shipped item arrived, so I just sent the extra one back.
Sometime neighbours do pick up packages left in the open, stuff gets stolen or you have a useless/lazy delivery guy. I've had all of the above happen to me. I've had packages delivered then a message sent days later telling me it was delivered, or I find a card days later after item has been received making me think there is another item. Items I am sure have been lost turning up months later.
@@felicityc apparently Australia isnt real and we are all paid actors, however i am being scammed as i have not received any moneys pertaining the acting and maybe i'm an involuntary volunteer lol! I wonder who i'd lodge a complaint with about that 🤔🤔
you know, i'm rewatching this and i'm very curious what would happen if you tried to re-sign up using monica's email address- would the system deny it because 'there's already an account with that email'? probably, but it'd be a really funny slap in the face to have screenshots of both side by side
The fact that they're quick (enough) to refund the obviously fake products lends itself to that explanation. In theory it shouldn't be feasible to refund the majority of your customers, but if your goal isn't to make direct profits from sales that might make more sense. The purchase/refund creates a legitimate transaction history for the funds so they can be recorded on books and the original source obscured.
This rang a bell with me! A few years ago I ordered something from China through ebay. It cost around $20 and had a long shipping time. I started corresponding with them about not shipping item as promised. I ended up receiving a little fan gadget that you plug into a lightening phone cable. So, there they had confirmation that I had received the item and I got tired of fighting with them so I gave up😂. I didn’t realize until now that I was scammed 😅😅😅. But from that experience I no longer buy things that are shipping from China and am just more careful in general when I am buying from eBay or Amazon. I don’t remember what the item was but I know it wasn’t an expensive electronic thing, was usually around $30, but was hard to find. I hope people keep making RUclips videos for different kinds of scams to keep viewers informed and on their toes😊. Thank you!
I’m glad you explained the Fake POD thing, it happened to me on AliExpress and they favored the seller. I haven’t ordered anything else on there since lol
I'm off AliExpress also. Buying since 2013. The stuff gets worse, and worse. I would be tempted to get some knock off sunglasses, as they are literally as good as as $300.00 pair. I worked in Quality Control, in 2 different industries, and cannot see any difference in quality to the 'real brand'. However, I hate having to give 5 stars, even if they stuff up - then argue and haggle about the poor, or missing goods. That SUCKS. They mainly get away with it, as they are in China, and I'm in Australia.
@@markosswald7041 Just follow the Aliexpress dispute procedure and eventually insist if they don't get it the first time around. Not all of their employess understand english like you and me... I have had lots of of disputes, all of which went my way once I provided photo or video evidence of the problem.
@@Makatea same here. Literally HUNDREDS of disputes over past ten years, but I’ve had thousands of orders, and I’ve only had one not go my way. They are way better than eBay or even PayPal.
While I too was hoping to see what actually was delivered, and also knowing it would not be what was promised, you did give me useful warning about Wish themselves. I thought about ordering a couple of those same items, knowing they would be a scam, but hoping the cases would look as advertised so I could use them for some of my projects. I thought those would be fair prices for enclosures. Glad I saw your video. I will never consider purchasing even known junk from Wish ever.
We ordered something on wish... Took longer to arrive than advertised, once it did arrive, it broke within a month. Never will we order off there again. Thank you for uploading this video 😊
7:21 carriers falsely claiming delivery has actually been a common occurrence for me in the US. USPS especially has had several occasions where they'd mark as delivered at 6pm of the day it was scheduled, but then actually deliver it a day or two later
Some Amazon, FedEx and USPS delivery drivers work as a "team" with friends or family to score packages. They deliver to targeted address and friend is waiting by to get it after the drop so the driver can get away and use his GPS trackers to verify delivery and his pictures for proof.
@@DL30Creations - I've begun having this issue. However, it's possible for it to be the scam you describe because the package is delivered to a box in a mail store where the only people with access to the package is the delivery driver and store employees. So far, it's happened once where the package is shown as delivered but the store didn't actually get it until a day or 2 later to put in my box. I was there in the store saying that it showed delivered and if the store was trying to scam me by just having an employee keeping it for themselves, they hid it very well because I was watching the manager going through all the packages and looking around the back area to see if it was misplaced. Currently, I'm on the 2nd occurrence. USPS said delivered but the mail box store hasn't notified of a delivery. It definitely seems to be the shipping company doing something odd with package tracking.
I think that's because the carriers needing to make a daily quota, so they sometimes mark packages as delivered, and then instead deliver them the next day
Thank you for this. Especially the part that hope, optimism and faith are not bad things. I have witnessed sometimes the scam victims feel ashamed. You maintane the balance between warning people and not blaming the people who fell prey to the scammer.
I saw an ad for an electric drum kit on Facebook for a stupidly low price, I bought it, and a couple of weeks later received a drumstick 😂 Thankfully I used PayPal and got my money back, but I thought it was hilarious.
My ex regularly tried to buy things from Wish and was convinced that these were as advertised. When I told her she isn't going to get a real Gucci handbag for 17 Euro, she was extremely confused. The idea, that Wish sellers were not being truthful, seemed alien to her. There must be plenty if people out there thinking in similar ways.
Hey Mike! Back again! Nice video mate 🤓 I personally think that fishing tackle email came through because someone sold your "details" to other scammers who pretend to be in the middle of a transaction. I also think that Wish definitely meddle with these affairs. The fact they locked you out of your account is proof they wanted to provide resistance
Wish locking that account but still sending notifs is really sketchy, never planned on making an account but that's pushing me even further away. I like bootleg stuff, it's fun to mess with, but still.
Sellers creates fake accounts to place orders, they themselves later "ship" the item (ofc they do not, or at least not what's promised). After delivery is confirmed, then the "buyer" can leave a positive (obviously) review. This places the seller higher up in the listings etc. Creating a throw away account flagged their automated system and your account was locked due to the previously mentioned assumption.
Pause prediction: They're probably not going to ship you anything at all. I have a sneaking suspicion that they'd prefer not to involve themselves with any sort of company like this if it were an actual scam, I feel like this *might* be more for getting details out of people to pass on to actual scammers.
This makes me wonder if it's somehow being used to ship something illegal and get away with it, which is why Wish blocks the account. Maybe the scammer's friends usually place the order, or maybe bots usually do.
i’ve ordered a few times off wish thinking i knew exactly what was the worse that could happen and everything looked to have gone well but now i’m genuinely terrified
The issue with that is they'll have to have a lot of insiders to direct that package to wherever it's intended to go. I worked at UPS for a bit, and you have to scan each package, and if the scanner doesn't allow it, you have to have a manager approve it or figure out where it's supposed to go. I think the more realistic thing here is they use his address as additional fake shipping locations to use as a guise to say "Oh, it was sent to the wrong address, our bad" hoping you refund it so now they have your info to do the same thing over and over again, selling that info to whoever will buy it.
Great presentation, and big thanks for pointing out that the scammers don't care about making a few bucks from a junk item you are dumb enough to place the order for, it is harvesting the customer information of people vulnerable to a scammy sounding offering that is the real goal.
Instant sub, this video was great and opened my eyes. I never ordered from Wish before because I knew they were too sketchy but I didn't think about them fishing for information I always thought it was about getting the money.
On the part at 7:30, it occasionally happens here that UPS will, in fact, mark a package delivered a day before it actually gets put in my mailbox. I don't know why, but I can confirm it sometimes happens when I purchase things that get delivered via the postal service here in the USA. Mostly amazon, and it's almost always delivered the following day. I think it's probably something to do with metrics, or with me living on what's considered a rural route.
It happens when UPS or FedEx pass their parcel to the USPS to actually finish the delivery. UPS "delivered" the package as far as they're taking it, to a USPS hub near you, and the tracking number was only for UPS. I've sometimes been able to get my hands on another tracking number, a USPS one for that last-mile delivery.
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 I had a similar experience. I ordered my wife a sheet feeder for her Silhouette as a Christmas gift. After it failed to arrive, I reported it lost and got a refund, mind you, this was months later. I then ordered a new one. The day before the new one arrived, the original showed up. I called to ask how I could return the extra. They told me to keep it as the seller had already been reimbursed.
I've never heard of this happening. Here in Australia, the confirmation of delivery generally comes within 5 minutes of the item been delivered. Regardless of who is delivering it. Never had confirmation early and very very rarely get it late.
@@MsAussieSheila That can be a case for specific delivery service/area/just a weird mistake. Company`s operate in different, and sometimes very weird ways.
They get a hundred people to buy, that is 3 grand they get, so they send one out to get their five star review and the scammer makes 2 grand. As far as instant refunds, that is data mining. Once you buy something, they get all you info.
I could see the scam working around Christmas. I’ve had presents show up I completely forgot I ordered. So I could see something fall through the cracks for someone who orders a ton of stuff and forgets they ordered nonexistent crap off Wish.
The possibility I thought of (video paused to make this prediction), is something I've seen on Pleasant Green: it will turn out that you ordered "version x" of the item when you placed your order, where "version y" is the "real" item (but of course there's no way to select it) and "version x" will be something else, like a super cheap bag for the "mini-computer" or some other dumb add-on.
Maybe they will send you a broken one, and when you go to return it, they will request that it be sent to a new address(likely the next victim) and they will request your PayPal info so that they can send you money to get a return label. This happened to me, so let's see what happens in your case.
Another point to consider - interest. Any monies paid sit in an account until they're reclaimed. In that time, they earn interest. Sure, the money goes back eventually, but then another mark will have paid that money again. Each transaction might only earn a tiny amount, but if they get a few hundred people buying the scam a week, then repaying that money a few months down the line, the whole time topping up with new marks and scams, then you have an account that is always earning.
Loved the video! While I like to think that I would not fall for most of this kind of scams (but without saying "never"), I didn't consider the fact that I could be giving them, you know, the kind of information we should never give to a stranger on the internet (sorry, I can't remember the exact quote right now). ...and I'm kind of sad that you didn't get those shell glasses. On purple.
Another possibility, there are probably things on wish that are intentional knockoffs trying to replicate a specific commercial product that would take someone who knows what to look for to tell it apart from the genuine thing. Like for the game pad they could replicate the outer casing but throw the cheapest possible components inside and throw andriod on it or something. I’d imagine this is more common for midrange priced things so they can afford to make it functionally resemble the product. Things as cheap as $20 are more likely to be what you said
Great video. Working in online retail, just one comment regarding "parcel may show a few days after it's marked as delivered"; it's completely honest, specially when shipping from one country to another. Sometimes the parcel is marked as delivered when the parcel is passed on to the local carrier. Because the service by the original carrier is completed, then it's marked in the system as delivered, yet still the customer may have to wait several days until the local carrier makes the delivery. Sometimes is just scanned or someone introduces the wrong code somewhere for the parcel and is marked as delivered. Of course, this is not the case for this video, but just would like to clarify that this is something that happens all the time, so I consider it to be a valid argument by Wish's bot for legitimate parcels.
I have ordered a lot of stuff online, including from overseas and having worked in logistics, I've never heard of this. If it happens, I don't think it happens here. Proof of delivery is proof of *delivery*
Paused at 2:55 . My guess is that it will arrive as a lookalike keychain or something like that, in which case the seller can argue that you got the thing you have seen in the product page.
I really enjoy these types of videos, I understand not wanting to give these people money but it's very interesting to see the processes that happens with these scams. Too bad nothing showed up at your door, Would have been fun to see what kind of monstrosity they cobbled together to pass off as the real thing lol.
Almost fifty years ago, I was in the room when the owner of a large US mail-order retail company openly stated that if he had an item in his catalog whose defect rate was 100%, as long as the price was under $5, he'd get less than one in ten returned for a refund. Adjusting for inflation, and adding a bit of a correction factor for the relatively greater ease of simply filing a complaint via the Web, I think we need to consider the idea that the whole scam may be nothing more than the safe and secure knowledge that most people will write off a small loss, provided that recovering it is too much bother. They know that they can steal a small amount from a great many people, and get to keep more of it than they are compelled to give back.
Thank you for this. I've been looking for a way to show people I know to be careful on Wish. More often than not I feel their listings are too good to be true.
I think they make the customer wait for a delivery(that will never happen)so long a percentage will literally forget they placed an order and will not claim their money back.
Hope, trust, and optimism. Are good qualities to have. But whenever you're dealing with money (that isn't charity) you have to expect some amount of... "uneven representation of actual value." Which makes sense, everyone has to eat. But there's a lot of mouths between manufacturers and end users.
*Afterthoughts & Addenda*
*Login issues* - a few people have suggested that Monica's difficulty at login is a security feature that denies login if you are logged in somewhere else. I tested this with a different account and it appears Wish has no such feature. (Also if it did, would you really expect the response message to be denial of the existence of the account/email address?)
Is it possible they flagged her as a fake account?
Is it possible the link you tried to access wish from the email is a phishing attempt?
@@DrPosion It's always something to consider - a phishing attempt can coincide with a genuine process and catch you that way. This one wasn't.
Perhaps they suspected when a new user bought the same scam products as you, I suppose that statistically it is very rare that two different users fall victim to two identical scams.
@@ruben_balea Possible, but I doubt they're really watching orders like that, unless they have a specific reason to
The final point about this potentially being a data-harvesting exercise really is a good one. Such an effective way to amass a list of gullible people online with minimal risk...
Agreed
Absolutely! I didn’t think of that but it’s a very good point.
yes, personally I think that's the most likely angle. Even if it's just to have a database to harvest for future drop shipping, I'd think that Mike and his details are the product here.
Well, you get gullible people... and scam baiters lol. Where one goes, so does the other. So at least we have that.
It's more likely an interest scam by Wish itself. The company sells and refunds, and pockets the interest on the time between the two.
The idea of any small scam just being a step on the way to a larger one that hasn't happened yet is a little terrifying.
I guess they have to get the contact details for scams from somewhere, relying on phishing emails and cold calling can't be that successful. Conning hopeful Westerners with the promise of a cheap trinket could be quite effective.
I can somewhat tell what the risk is here, because my wife was scammed a couple of years ago. Short story: My wife (assumed tagged as gullible by Wish) had a run with their app and put a small order. However - later that year, she was billed a large bill for a huge list of items not being ordered (we also later found that the order was placed after the app was uninstalled, so it couldn't be her) nor being delivered, nor getting any order confirmation.
Unfortunately we had to fight the billing company (that was totally on wish's side) for more than a whole year before they dropped the case - the billing company used false claims several times, but I called them out on every false claim, also when they tried to sell the bill to other billing companies they didn't succeeded (of course, because they could never provide any evidence that any order was made).
It's actually very, very common. Scammers know that when they find the right victim they can bleed them for every cent they have and beyond that way into debt.
This is why entry level scams are often so seemingly poorly made. They don't want the people who spot the spelling mistakes in a phishing e-mail. They could make it look for real, but that'd only get them more people who'd still figure out they're being scammed at thr next stage.
Phishing is not a new concept though.
youd burn more calories working than it could cost to buy. we've been under the scam so long we can't see it.
Thanks so much for this video, Mike. I’m nearly 70 and am very grateful for the internet, because I live alone and I’m partially disabled. I get everything I need online, so because of your careful explanations and way of describing how scams work, without being judgemental or ‘know it all’, I’ve learned to be wary and I hope I’m taking care of myself with regard to internet scams.
A lot of people seem to think it’s easy to spot scams, but if everyone could see it so clearly, the scammers would have no successes and would probably give up!
So I’m going to carry on watching and learning. Take care.
I'm in a similar position and I have to rely on everything being ordered online. I've watched a few of the channels exposing the scammers and their techniques and I try to get that info out to others. I know someone who is a retired lawyer and even THEY fell for a telephone scam. The more honest you are in your day to day life sometimes makes us an easier target because we're not going to automatically think that people would be so nasty. All the best.
Thankfully for you, scams even existed back then in magazine and newspaper ads, and don't forget "As Seen on TV". The biggest problem is that these scammers are reaching way more people, plus those old mediums had to have SOME form of screening before letting anybody advertise on there.
Do you come dust yet? Lol
@@Harry_Cunce F**king creep
The general takeaway is that there are normally enough reputable sellers on your own continent to make a lot of these Chinese scam sites a waste of time and money.
I think it's also about the price of the product. As you said, the lengthy process to get a refund can make people think "that's too much trouble for only 18$"
But it isn't...they tell you to keep it
@Tim Hick probably means it's too much trouble to initiate the return if it wasn't being offered by said site / store in the 1st place lol.
@@timhick6 but, in most cases, there's not even a product to keep. And still people might think that is too much trouble for such low price 🤷♀️
£18* it's more than 18$
It’s not lengthy. Especially if you haven’t received it. It takes like4 to 9 min
My unproven theory is that wish has a too many failed login attempts security feature. So once the scammer gets your order they take the email address and try to login with random passwords until your account locks up. This obviously makes it even more difficult to cancel the order.
That is a... weirdly reasonable explanation. It's very weird either way.
Shouldn't they then have a system to send an automated alert to the email address that multiple login attempts had been made? To avoid Wish being accused of complacency with or even facilitators of these scams?
I agree, Wish is not directly involved, the scammers may be a bit too crafty.
They should moraly, but wish doent seem to care @@BanglaBish
That or because he mentioned still being logged in on the original pc which might have blocked logging in from a second pc at the same time. No idea but one thing is very clear, Wish is full of scams and seem oddly complicit with the fact.
i hope this video starts trending; this is actually crazy
i knew wish was cheap and negligent, but not shady and working with scammers directly
Right? It was crazy enough that they refunded him and kept the product pages up, but then blocking the second email to try to avoid having to give a refund?? That's criminal.
I don't think he's right. I don't think there are any scammers at all. The most likely explanation is that Wish is selling these products, and refunding the full amount later, without ever taking the principal, but it is placing the money in an investment, and pocketing the interest on between the time of purchase and time of refund. At any one point in time, there could be tens of millions in the account, constantly rotating between customers, leading to perhaps hundreds of thousands of profit annually depending on investment.
@@annaclarafenyo8185 Should be illegal.
@@annaclarafenyo8185 If that isn't a scam I don't know what is!
@@annaclarafenyo8185 this seems like its very possible. Hopefully more comes out about their activities.
Wish is so shady, the denial of the existence of the account/email address is crazy 😮
That's some orwellian type shit
It's as bad on eBay
@SergyMilitaryRankings not even close. Ebay protects the buyers. I received a broken item. Tried to be reasonable with the seller. Seller told me to essentially eff off. I opened an ebay claim. Ebay had me send the package back on the sellers dime and I received a refund 100%.
It's somewhat normal for websites to say that if you try to login with a wrong password even for an account that exists to prevent hackers from figuring out what are valid accounts
@@bobson_dugnuttIsn’t it more likely to say ‘the email or password is incorrect’, so it’s still vague. I think the ultimate test would be if he tried to reset the password, see if it comes in his inbox, reset it and then try to login
Computer goes from 1k$ to 20$ = economy of scale
Bread goes from 1.5$ to 2$ = scam
Both are for sure scams, but bread raising its price like is just criminal
Several years ago, I ordered one thing from Wish. A plush of my favorite anime character at the time. It was around $20, what I expected for the plush tbh, and it was to ship within 2 weeks of the purchase. 2 weeks passed, it was supposed to have been shipped as I received the email that the order was processed as well as a tracking number that actually seemed accurate but had remained stuck in what I assume now was some sort of baggage claim at an airport in China. I did dispute with wish and was refunded after 2 months. 2 years pass and imagine my surprise when I actually receive the item and it's actually nice quality and looks exactly as advertised. Such a weird experience, far from what you'd expect from Wish nowadays.
I love plush toys.
@@labrador-fx3fb NO ONE ASKED
@@internet_userr No OnE aSkEd YoU eItHeR
@@internet_userr you good?
@@internet_userr Lab Rador loves plush toys. FYI
I'm so glad someone actually ordered them. I know it's bad to give scammers money or anything like that but I've always wanted to see what would happen if you just went with it lol
Don't worry he'll get his money back. These scammers just hope their "customers" are too lazy to complain and just throw it in the bin.
Not all heroes wear capes
@@rhoansuede7938 oh yeah yeah
@@rhoansuede7938 but some are...shrimpy
@@technoman9000 He probably will, but that money might be coming out of Wish's pocket, rather than the sellers'. If the seller already took their money and ran away there is little chance of getting it back from them. In this case, he got a refund pretty quickly, so likely the seller never got the money, but there was no way of knowing that would be the case beforehand. If the "shipping" took a month or more like stuff from China usually does, the seller would probably already have taken the money and ran by the time it came to disputing the order.
So in short, getting a refund doesn't necessarily mean you won over the scammer. They know how to game the system, how to prolong the whole process so that they can get money from as many people as possible before anybody opens or successfully gets a dispute approved, and once they have the money in their bank account there is nothing anybody can do to get it back from them. If they didn't, these scams would never work because as soon as the first person filed a dispute all their transactions would be made null and void and they would never see any of the money.
I'd ordered a jacket from Wish, and never got it...and then had to tell them multiple times that it was never delivered, when they insisted it had been. A few days later, I got a full refund from Wish, and that was that. The strange thing was that the jacket actually, finally arrived...about a whole month later. I think they may have just sent me one to avoid being revealed as a scam, and used the jacket they sent as a loss leader to cover for it.
Isn't it possible that it was stuck in customs the whole time and they just knew it was arrived in your country? I swear I don't work for Wish I'm just curious
@@n0one555 I ordered sth from Amazon once. I live in Germany, the item was being shipped from Canada. It was supposed to take 10-14 days. Still hadn't arrived after a month, so I messaged them. They shipped a new one which arrived in about five days. Funnily enough, the original order did eventually arrive, about two and a half months after I had placed the order. I got to keep both, since it wasn't a particularly expensive item, just wasn't available in Germany.
Dude it wasn’t a scam you were just impatient lmao
Yeah, ordering directly from china may take months for items to arrive.
same thing happened to me, got a refund because I'd waited 8 weeks and wish said it had been delivered. Two weeks later my package arrived.
Really sketchy, especially Wish blocking log-in. With the earlier stuff that happened, also think it's likely they were just protecting their rep while being 100% complicit.
Thanks Mike for going to the effort to use a pseudonym and separate address to see how your public image might impact stuff.
Reckon the profit is a numbers game - I'm not diligent enough and often can't be bothered dealing with a lengthy refund process.
I never even registered until the end that the money might not have been the goal but your details. Guess I'm just used to all sorts of sketchy sources knowing my details by now, from data breaches to scummy marketing practices to social media harvesting.
Wish is one big scam site. This should be common knowledge by now.
I’m not even remotely surprised.
"Reckon the profit is a numbers game" - so at the end of the day, it is _economy of scale._
Atomic Shrimp is Mike?
I had a similar issue with a Wish login a few years back. Thing is, I'd never even ordered anything on that account. But when I tried to log in with details I knew were correct, it told me the account didn't exist. But I was receiving emails to that address, and if I tried to use it to sign up again, it told me the email was in use!
The fact I'd never ordered something made me think it wasn't shenanigans from Wish, just poor coding/design. I don't know if this can be said in Shrimp's case, given the suspicious timing of the problem cropping up, but there is the old adage about incompetence and malice
I always knew there were scammers on Wish but I never knew Wish themselves were potentially the scammers!
Same , quite off putting .
I would be surprised to learn that there were more than a handful of legitimate sellers on Wish, to be honest. And I expect that the website's primary function is data mining, anyway.
Wait... you are surprised that a platform that willingly and knowingly provides a storefront for scammers might be scammers themselves?
Well it's a Chinese company and with the Chinese everything is possible
ebay too. Ebay locked my account after asking for a refund after being scammed. They made the entire process tedious and tried to act like I was the criminal for being scammed lmao. Took me 3 weeks to finally get a refund.
"Maybe the real scam hasn't started yet?"
oh
OH
I generally think of myself as relatively scam aware but when someone come out and hits you with a blind spot like that, geez.
Thanks Shrimp for that food for thought
The comment at 9:25 is just absolute gold. I've never seen someone be so aggressively confident while also being hilariously wrong.
"who even buys these things?"
This guy
@@FiftySixishTV For real yep XD
Sounds like people I work with in IT. Some guy thought 8GB DDR5 was the same as getting 16GB DDR4, so you need less RAM because it's faster.
Yep, I remember that comment from a few videos back. It's the Dunning-Kruger Effect in all it's glory for all the world to see in that comment. It's that person essentially saying;
"PSH! You're not smart like ME. I don't get scammed when I buy data storage, because I can right click and go to properties to see the drive size. You just don't have the connections I got bro! I can get storage for 1$ per 1TB because I've got: "marketing skills"! I'm way too smart to be scammed, and you're just not smart like me. Which is why you get scammed so much!"
Which is hilarious to me... because they're _somehow_ assuming or implying that Mike (Shrimp) "gets scammed" at all. Which, while possible, (since, anyone can get got under the right circumstances) is certainly NOT what's happening in any of his videos. (or at least, not _really,_ since he's going into it knowing it's a scam and doing it purely for _OUR_ benefit.)
At the same time... I also try to remind myself of what Shrimp has told us.... And I know ridiculing this person isn't the answer. As aggressively confident, and aggressively WRONG as they are... they are, at the core of it, just misguided and mistaken. If they were to properly check their purchased devices, they would find that it's as he says it is, and that they are fake. The day they lose important data, they will think back to what Mike said, and feel very silly and foolish. I can only hope the lesson isn't too punishing for them, when they realize that they actually *WERE* scammed.
@@dajosh42069 Honestly, I'd prefer people not to have to learn things "the hard way", but when they leave themselves no choice..... :P
I love this video, I am going to show this to my grandma who likes to lead on phone call scammers. She will drag them on for hours, "let me go find my card" "oh no I can't find it" "HONEY DID YOU LEAVE THE CARD AT YOUR NIECE'S AGAIN" "Give me 20 minutes, she lives right down the road" "oh shit, I dropped it under the couch" She gives them excuse after excuse, and either leads them along until they hang up, or she laughs at them and calls them out if she gets bored first
Chad Grandma.
Your grandmother is awesome, my mother does something similar and how angry they get sometimes kills me lol
Your grandma is a badass, I like that !
Is your gran Kitboga? 😂
I love your Grandma!
One time, my mother ordered a carpet for her bathroom. She paid it for about $1. I've though it was really cheap but, well, I can found these for about $5 on shops like IKEA. She indeed recieved a carpet just ... the seller "ommited" that it was a carpet ... for doll houses :p
It's important to note that some banks (well, mine in the UK at least) provide a refund process for small online payment scams such as these. If Wish locks you out of your account, filing a chargeback is generally an effective way to force it to pay up.
Not only that, but if a business has high chargeback rate Visa and MasterCard would put them on monitoring programs, higher fees etc and if they keep on getting high chargeback rates eventually the card networks simply won't work with the business.
Also, video posted 3d ago, your comment is from 6d ago? 🤔
@@V-Dawg I can time travel. /j
@@V-Dawg Probably a reposted video. He may have posted it got a few replies and then briefly took the video down for some reason (possibly an edit), only to then repost it again a few days later. Either that or the commenter really is a time traveler...
Very interesting that they blocked you...
I was wondering if it's not Wish, but the scammers trying themselves to get the account closed. Trying to login too many times, resetting their password too many times etc...
@@edsloan good thinking. However, I think we can all agree that Wish is far from a reliable marketplace. Somehow, this 'working with scammers' cospiracy doesn't surprise me as much as I thought it would.
@edsloan that's an interesting idea. As someone prone to forgetting which passwords go with which accounts, they usually reset after 24 hours of locking one out for too many failed login attempts. However, I don't imagine the systems of honest businesses shut down the account completely after a set number of failed attempts. I usually end up resetting the password and using my fingerprint to login going forward. 🙃
@@edsloan In the case, Monica likely would have gotten an email notice about failed login attempts, or about an account lockdown in response to repeated failed attempts.
@@edsloan
It didn't say the account was locked. It said the account couldn't even be found in the system.
Maybe the scam is the friends we made along the way
Hey Mike! On the subject of scams, could you shed some light on those seemingly innocent Facebook posts where you comment your first pet name, and the street you grew up on, to get your “adult actor” name? (An alternative is matching your date of your birthday to a word and the month to another word, see the infamous meme “moon moon”)
I didn’t realise until recently but they ask these very specific questions as they’re often banking security questions!
ohhhhh, good catch! I've never taken out any time to do those things but now that you mention it, it makes perfectly good sense!
@@danitho and with a Facebook account they have access to your full name, and possibly your birthday too if you haven’t gone to the trouble of privatising it!
Your comment is a prime example of why I should read the complete statement before forming an opinion! 😂
I did not know where you were going with that but as the above commenter said; Good catch! Thanks for sharing.
@@Lyran7 I realise the preview sounds like it’s going to go in a completely opposite direction🤣
That sounds like the kind of information you should never tell to a stranger on the Internet...
Your "what if" tag at the end was where my mind has been going with a lot of these scams. Thank you. Thanks for posting this.
I have an idea on why you couldn't log in. The scammers might be compromising the wish account by trying to login with the incorrect password. Making it look like a hack and blocking the account. This just creates another hurdle for the user to file a claim because they can't login to the account. Just a thought 🤔
Brilliant, if it works. You would expect a different error message in that case though.
As Jessica says, the message would not then be "We can't seem to find your account". Proper customer service would be a proactive message directly to Monica saying that the account had been locked after multiple failed login attempts, and offering a resolution. The apparent lockout is not a good look for Wish, at the bare minimum.
I would think they would at least send an email saying your account has been locked due to suspicious activity or something like that
Another option is that Monica's password has been compromised and is listed in a credential dump, the scammers logged in using those leaked passwords and changed the login email. Mike can check via haveibeenpwned
If this is the case, just like in the video, the login token would still work on the original browser, but you couldn't log in from another machine.
If the password hasn't been compromised, this points to either wish being part of the scam or that they have an internal policy of closing scammed accounts (with no / little other history?) instead of refunding them.
Scammers likely have created accounts, bought their own scam products, scammers type in a tracking code to get paid - and then the new accounts demand refunds, which wish has to refund or it get strikes against its merchant account.
If the Monica account was created in a VM / on a vpn, it will look extra suspicious.
What would be funny, but I think is unlikely, would be if Wish softblocked the account because some security AI ran the data and recognized that Monica wasn't a real person, or living at the address provided. I just made that up, but it sounds like it could be a security feature on a more legitimate site. Naturally, on Wish it would be a joke if that were actually the case while the most obvious scam listings continue to operate.
It seems Wish disabled your account... but did not expire your authentication token. So as long as that machine stays on, etc and still holds on to that cookie with the authentication token you will remain logged in until it eventually expires (if it ever does lol)
I also think it might have been a miscommunication thing. OR the seller was trying to have access to the account and prevented it by disabling it. Just that wish is notorious for poor communication.....
@@lightdreamer_ If it was the seller trying to login the he would have gotten an email alert him that.
@@teamofone1219 I specifically said wish is bad with communication
Big security flaw, but in this case it was very helpful
@@lightdreamer_ No, that's not an option. Wish's parent company is based in California. California has specific laws stating you are REQUIRED to notify people when their personal information is breached or is assumed to be breached. If they allowed someone to make login attempts like that and didn't say anything, that's a lawsuit they can't turn around.
I got two refunds off Wish before they blocked me, one for a phone, one for a drone. Took literal days trying to sort the first one out, I feel your pain. The bot is purposely programmed to be an idiot I think.
My dad did this once. He bought a "mini excavator" through a facebook ad for like $100, knowing it was likely BS, but kind of hoping he had found a ridiculous deal.
4 months later an 8 inch plastic package came, labeled "mini excavator". It contained a pair of earrings that looked like they had been punched out of a 1mm sheet of metal. 😂
In the end, he got a full refund, but I think he was disappointed that he didn't get the chance to turn the tables and BE the scammer. Lol
You've gotta be particular with this. The only places you can do that really is funnily on legit websites by catching mislabeled prices or discounts and pouncing on it quick or, more commonly, on open market places like gumtree, facebook marketplace and find people selling something that they don't seem to know the value of, or just seem a bit... yeah. I've gotten some brilliant deals on middle-age women and old people selling computer parts real cheap because they had no clue of the price. Heard of someone who found a GPU in a thrift store for like 20 dollars before lol. If someones paying to advertise it, nah not gonna happen.
I would of at least hoped for a toy excavator
@@jesusramirezromo2037 yeah, that would at least resemble the product and let them say that they sold what they advertised, trying to wind themselves out.
@@jesusramirezromo2037 I wouldn't even be mad if I got a toy excavator, I'd just say "well played" and chuckle.
@@100GTAGUYYes, heard of someone who won a sports car in a lottery.
Bought everyone drinks.
Went to get his prize.
A toy sports car.
The temptation for me to order this crap is so strong. I appreciate your service
If you were cool, you'd order it.
Do it.
@@ItsMrAssholeToYou bro trying to gaslight
@@relinquiem
He should totally order it.
@@ItsMrAssholeToYou true though
Subbed. Excellent channel. Concise and accurate. No time wasting or vanity. Thank you
I will say, even after you report it as a scam, they dont take it down. My mom got tricked by a chair (willingly, I told her it was bs but she really wanted that hanging chair for $20). She got a child's camping stool, not even chair with back just stool. We only got like half back as they kept arguing we got _something_ and we recently got an ad for another chair lmao
Tricked is when you don't know it's a scam, but you told her it was nonsense from the beginning and she insisted anyway. What you described is more like masochism.
Someone I know ordered a laser cutter/engraver type of thing off of Facebook for $200. I was suspicious when they showed me the page, it seemed like type of thing would be in the $500+ range. But it was some off brand so it could have been possible I guess. Anyway, a few months later I asked about it, and they said they completely forgot about it. It never showed up. They didn't care enough to dispute the charge and get a refund.
I suspect that's the hope for a lot of these things. Some people have a tendency to buy a lot of things online, and then forget about them until they show up. I don't understand that mentality but I think it's fairly common.
Those people are what the globalists call "good consumers". They don't resist, they don't react, they just roll over and take it.
right, i rarely ever buy stuff from the internet but when i do i always think about it, it seems so surreal for me to just spend so much money with things online and then forget about it!! like, you're wasting so much money!!!
if you are in the US, never ever ever buy a "fuel filter" from wish. you will be visited by the ATF, because that fuel filter is basically a firearm suppressor with one hole not drilled. and the ATF is the one running the scam.
I ordered 2 rolls of 3D printer filament from wish. I got 2 rolls of paper towels. it took multiple times to get them to give me a refund. each time they insisted the rolls of towels were indeed 3D printer filament.
The fact that Wish actually locked you (Monica) out of your (Monica's) account is, I think, the most terrifying aspect of this whole thing. They'e OBVIOUSLY in on it. That's a really big deal, and I don't think you're as upset as you should be.
It could also be that their system detected a recently created account with just two orders from suspected fraud accounts and linked it as suspicious or colluding
@@AppleSauceGamingChannel I mean, I doubt 2 orders are enough to get flagged by such a system. I made a new account just to order a Rasperry Pi on another website. Would I be a fraudster if I ordered 2 instead?
Yeah, I think it’s likely they thought Monica was a fake account created to create fake positive reviews
A Poster had a theory on why "Monica's," Account was locked was because the Scammers were constantly trying to hack into Monica's Account and kept putting the wrong password, so Wish automatically thought,"This is a Hacker trying to hack into Monica's Account, otherwise they wouldn't keep putting the wrong password. We're blocking Monica's Account." Good theory. 🤔
@@AppleSauceGamingChannel that is I think I possible explanation, as likely as it is for Wish to be in with the scammers, I don't think they would take that much legal risks.
Wish systems may have detected Monica as a potential money laundering scheme, someone could easily buy a bunch of stuff with dirty money, sell it on ebay for the price they bought it at and buy it themselves, they don't make any profit, but the money they have is now Wish money, whish is clean.
The most intriguing part is that -locked- deleted account; I would love for you to look into that. Multiple emails and addresses would probably be necessary (PO boxes perhaps) but I'm really curious how often that happens. That's incredibly fishy.
I definitely think there's a bigger story here, if someone is willing to dig into it.
I assume there’s a way for the seller to ban user accounts, maybe even just lock them out for some time period. Doesn’t make sense for wish to be involved, the risk to them for stealing users money certainly costs more than the 20$ they steal
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 there's no way "theres a way for the seller to ban user accounts". I mean Wish is nearly a scam in itself but if they allowed that then who WOULDNT ban you immediately after you bought their product if it meant they got to keep the money and didnt have to deliver anything? Not only would *every* scammer do that but so would the legitimate sellers if there was no risk to them. There may be some kind of report feature but there's no way a seller could just outright ban a customer by themselves.
My account disappeared in the same manner. I can back tab and still see it but I can't actually log in lol.
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 A merchant being able to ban customers from a platform makes no sense at all. As a platform operator, you don't give that sort of power to any client. Even on a scam platform, users being able to login are your business asset #1 here. That he was unable to login, yet perform actions as this account at the other machine is a huge red flag and has almost no other explanation than wish being a part in the foul game here, although it's possible here that just part of the staff has gone rogue and upper management just sees the results within the framing of "annual customer refunds" and doesn't suspect much.
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 Wish is supposed to be a marketplace for independent sellers. There's no way that any of those sellers should be able to straight-up ban users.
That is absolutely outrageous that WISH can get away with stuff like that. I only WISH something could be done about it
Bad puns are bad. :D
Something CAN be done about it!
You can avoid this Wish thing like the damn plague...
I see you...
Ah, but now there’s Temu
@@austinnix4416 you wish
The end :
Maybe the REAL scam are the friends we made along the way
I once ordered a £1 set of pixelated sunglasses from wish, and the Seller literally just sent me an envelope with 2 buisness cards in, Its likely the scammers use these cheap transactions that no one is going to contest as their shipping information.
You took what could have been an anticlimactic 30 second video, and turned it into an engaging, thought provoking experience. Well done Mike!
Could be Wish is using the money during the time it takes to get your refund. They still make interest on funds in transit. And in the case of Ali Baba, more than half says to themselves I don't want to go through all that to gwt my $10 back. Lastly if you do, your account is flagged. Scammed!
@@KeksimusMaximus Shrimp's name is Mike. His email is right there on his page.
"I am expecting to be scammed here so I went ahead and ordered it."
There's something very funny about hearing Shrimp say this.
The "faintly ridiculous" dispute process is fairly common in my experience, in the US anyway. Big box retailers that have sent stuff to me lost on route pulled the same crap. Make sure to check everywhere, ask your neighbors, wait a few more days because sometimes products are marked as delivered early (bullcrap btw), etc. Except these weren't even bots, it was customer service employees on their payroll.
I have actually had a package come in later - marked delivered, got a replacement shipment delivered 2 weeks later, then got the original shipment nearly a month later. FedEx works in mysterious ways
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 happen with me on Amazon before bought a bday gift never came they sent out a new one. With in 3 days the replacement came, 2 months later got the same package (the one that never came)
It happens in Europe as well. I'm not quite sure which service it was, but apparently, they didn't require a signature of the recipient (which is quite stupid), and the delivery driver and customer service stated that he (the delivery driver) actually delivered the parcel (which is only possible if he hands it over to the recipient IN PERSON). Even more infuriating than their unwillingness to help was the fact that the contents were quite expensive, as well as the fact that it was the last package my late grandmother sent, which were usually stuffed to the brim with sweets and presents. I honestly think that the courier stole it. It's the only logical explanation. And sadly that scummy company seems to be all too complacent about it as well.
The "marked as delivered early" thing has actually happened to me before with Amazon. I had already gotten them to resend it since I filed a dispute as soon as it was marked delivered without actually being delivered, but then the originally shipped item arrived, so I just sent the extra one back.
Sometime neighbours do pick up packages left in the open, stuff gets stolen or you have a useless/lazy delivery guy.
I've had all of the above happen to me.
I've had packages delivered then a message sent days later telling me it was delivered, or I find a card days later after item has been received making me think there is another item. Items I am sure have been lost turning up months later.
I would gamble that Wish has notifications set up for specific people who have a history of making scam videos.
But how would Wish know his surname? He didn’t place the order as “Atomic Shrimp”.
@@JosephSchmidtfanbecause he’s the only person in the UK with internet connection
@@imstupidbut frankly, i am not convinced he really lives in the uk. it is well known it is not real
@@imstupidbutWell, you’ve only gone and got’em there…
@@felicityc apparently Australia isnt real and we are all paid actors, however i am being scammed as i have not received any moneys pertaining the acting and maybe i'm an involuntary volunteer lol! I wonder who i'd lodge a complaint with about that 🤔🤔
so nice of you to keep supporting these scammers! keep up the good work.
Appropriate username
@@AtomicShrimp hahaha you got him good XD
I love the last point you made. Maybe the scam isn't the product itself but, collecting peoples information as well. 😶
Multi-level scam?
that's almost definitely the real motivation, that data is vauleable, especially if many people fall for it
you know, i'm rewatching this and i'm very curious what would happen if you tried to re-sign up using monica's email address- would the system deny it because 'there's already an account with that email'? probably, but it'd be a really funny slap in the face to have screenshots of both side by side
I think this could possibly be some form of money laundering
The fact that they're quick (enough) to refund the obviously fake products lends itself to that explanation.
In theory it shouldn't be feasible to refund the majority of your customers, but if your goal isn't to make direct profits from sales that might make more sense.
The purchase/refund creates a legitimate transaction history for the funds so they can be recorded on books and the original source obscured.
I appreciate the info on the company being possibly complicit in the scams. Helpful to know.
Only an absolute legend like you can get back at wish the way you did, thank you so much for your awesome service on this platform
He's getting paid quite well
@@donaldsalkovick396 I hope so, he deserves it
This rang a bell with me! A few years ago I ordered something from China through ebay. It cost around $20 and had a long shipping time. I started corresponding with them about not shipping item as promised. I ended up receiving a little fan gadget that you plug into a lightening phone cable. So, there they had confirmation that I had received the item and I got tired of fighting with them so I gave up😂. I didn’t realize until now that I was scammed 😅😅😅. But from that experience I no longer buy things that are shipping from China and am just more careful in general when I am buying from eBay or Amazon. I don’t remember what the item was but I know it wasn’t an expensive electronic thing, was usually around $30, but was hard to find. I hope people keep making RUclips videos for different kinds of scams to keep viewers informed and on their toes😊. Thank you!
I’m glad you explained the Fake POD thing, it happened to me on AliExpress and they favored the seller. I haven’t ordered anything else on there since lol
I'm off AliExpress also. Buying since 2013. The stuff gets worse, and worse. I would be tempted to get some knock off sunglasses, as they are literally as good as as $300.00 pair. I worked in Quality Control, in 2 different industries, and cannot see any difference in quality to the 'real brand'. However, I hate having to give 5 stars, even if they stuff up - then argue and haggle about the poor, or missing goods. That SUCKS. They mainly get away with it, as they are in China, and I'm in Australia.
@@markosswald7041 Just follow the Aliexpress dispute procedure and eventually insist if they don't get it the first time around. Not all of their employess understand english like you and me...
I have had lots of of disputes, all of which went my way once I provided photo or video evidence of the problem.
dispute it with your bank.
@@Makatea same here. Literally HUNDREDS of disputes over past ten years, but I’ve had thousands of orders, and I’ve only had one not go my way. They are way better than eBay or even PayPal.
Did you do a charge back?
I'm reminded of the saying "be careful what you wish for".
Thank you as ever for your excellent videos.
Be careful what you WISH for
While I too was hoping to see what actually was delivered, and also knowing it would not be what was promised, you did give me useful warning about Wish themselves. I thought about ordering a couple of those same items, knowing they would be a scam, but hoping the cases would look as advertised so I could use them for some of my projects. I thought those would be fair prices for enclosures. Glad I saw your video. I will never consider purchasing even known junk from Wish ever.
We ordered something on wish... Took longer to arrive than advertised, once it did arrive, it broke within a month. Never will we order off there again. Thank you for uploading this video 😊
At least you got something. But what did you give them?
@@janeknisely4383 our address and money for what we ordered. In our defense, we didn't know how bad the site was at the time as it was in 2020
what did u order? we bought a wish fidget spinners once
@@imstupidbut we ordered a double Divan bed and mattress. The bed base broke within a month.
Uh, that seller was bad. Wish isn't the problem.....
7:21 carriers falsely claiming delivery has actually been a common occurrence for me in the US. USPS especially has had several occasions where they'd mark as delivered at 6pm of the day it was scheduled, but then actually deliver it a day or two later
Some Amazon, FedEx and USPS delivery drivers work as a "team" with friends or family to score packages. They deliver to targeted address and friend is waiting by to get it after the drop so the driver can get away and use his GPS trackers to verify delivery and his pictures for proof.
@@DL30Creations - I've begun having this issue. However, it's possible for it to be the scam you describe because the package is delivered to a box in a mail store where the only people with access to the package is the delivery driver and store employees.
So far, it's happened once where the package is shown as delivered but the store didn't actually get it until a day or 2 later to put in my box. I was there in the store saying that it showed delivered and if the store was trying to scam me by just having an employee keeping it for themselves, they hid it very well because I was watching the manager going through all the packages and looking around the back area to see if it was misplaced.
Currently, I'm on the 2nd occurrence. USPS said delivered but the mail box store hasn't notified of a delivery. It definitely seems to be the shipping company doing something odd with package tracking.
I think that's because the carriers needing to make a daily quota, so they sometimes mark packages as delivered, and then instead deliver them the next day
Schrödinger's Wish account?
Thank you for this. Especially the part that hope, optimism and faith are not bad things. I have witnessed sometimes the scam victims feel ashamed. You maintane the balance between warning people and not blaming the people who fell prey to the scammer.
Hope, optimism, and faith need to be earned. What did Wish do to earn anything?
Maybe the real scam were us all along! Or our data... now that's a plot twist. Loved the video, and the name of your house.
.... or the scam wascoming from inside the house.
I saw an ad for an electric drum kit on Facebook for a stupidly low price, I bought it, and a couple of weeks later received a drumstick 😂
Thankfully I used PayPal and got my money back, but I thought it was hilarious.
Wish being sketchy? Not surprised. Thanks for the video, Mike!
My ex regularly tried to buy things from Wish and was convinced that these were as advertised. When I told her she isn't going to get a real Gucci handbag for 17 Euro, she was extremely confused. The idea, that Wish sellers were not being truthful, seemed alien to her.
There must be plenty if people out there thinking in similar ways.
Yes, why wouldn't you, after all, everything on the internet is true, isn't it?
I just stumbled on your content, love it! New sub 😊 I love scambaiting and your thorough take!
Hey Mike! Back again! Nice video mate 🤓
I personally think that fishing tackle email came through because someone sold your "details" to other scammers who pretend to be in the middle of a transaction.
I also think that Wish definitely meddle with these affairs. The fact they locked you out of your account is proof they wanted to provide resistance
Wish locking that account but still sending notifs is really sketchy, never planned on making an account but that's pushing me even further away.
I like bootleg stuff, it's fun to mess with, but still.
Sellers creates fake accounts to place orders, they themselves later "ship" the item (ofc they do not, or at least not what's promised). After delivery is confirmed, then the "buyer" can leave a positive (obviously) review. This places the seller higher up in the listings etc.
Creating a throw away account flagged their automated system and your account was locked due to the previously mentioned assumption.
Maybe Wish purchased their login software from Wish?
Wishception
Pause prediction: They're probably not going to ship you anything at all. I have a sneaking suspicion that they'd prefer not to involve themselves with any sort of company like this if it were an actual scam, I feel like this *might* be more for getting details out of people to pass on to actual scammers.
This makes me wonder if it's somehow being used to ship something illegal and get away with it, which is why Wish blocks the account. Maybe the scammer's friends usually place the order, or maybe bots usually do.
If you ever see any old Disney VHS tapes for sale for thousands, report it. It's likely CP.
I know a person who collects old vhs tapes and has some old Disney ones so it’s not always CP@@DemstarAus
i’ve ordered a few times off wish thinking i knew exactly what was the worse that could happen and everything looked to have gone well but now i’m genuinely terrified
And a grateful world of consumers salutes you!
As a Brit from up north I have a weird loyalty to your channel 😂 great video man, glad your still making content after all these years!!
Great video and detecting, Mike. I was thinking of another possibility: maybe they use your shipping as a cover to send illegal stuff to the UK! 🕵️
The issue with that is they'll have to have a lot of insiders to direct that package to wherever it's intended to go. I worked at UPS for a bit, and you have to scan each package, and if the scanner doesn't allow it, you have to have a manager approve it or figure out where it's supposed to go.
I think the more realistic thing here is they use his address as additional fake shipping locations to use as a guise to say "Oh, it was sent to the wrong address, our bad" hoping you refund it so now they have your info to do the same thing over and over again, selling that info to whoever will buy it.
2:50 They could also send you a digital animated picture frame of Rick Astley
Great presentation, and big thanks for pointing out that the scammers don't care about making a few bucks from a junk item you are dumb enough to place the order for, it is harvesting the customer information of people vulnerable to a scammy sounding offering that is the real goal.
Wish are absolutely complicit with these scammers.
Instant sub, this video was great and opened my eyes. I never ordered from Wish before because I knew they were too sketchy but I didn't think about them fishing for information I always thought it was about getting the money.
On the part at 7:30, it occasionally happens here that UPS will, in fact, mark a package delivered a day before it actually gets put in my mailbox. I don't know why, but I can confirm it sometimes happens when I purchase things that get delivered via the postal service here in the USA. Mostly amazon, and it's almost always delivered the following day. I think it's probably something to do with metrics, or with me living on what's considered a rural route.
It happens when UPS or FedEx pass their parcel to the USPS to actually finish the delivery. UPS "delivered" the package as far as they're taking it, to a USPS hub near you, and the tracking number was only for UPS. I've sometimes been able to get my hands on another tracking number, a USPS one for that last-mile delivery.
I once received a “delivered” package a month later, after I’d convinced customer service to deliver a replacement
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 I had a similar experience. I ordered my wife a sheet feeder for her Silhouette as a Christmas gift. After it failed to arrive, I reported it lost and got a refund, mind you, this was months later. I then ordered a new one. The day before the new one arrived, the original showed up. I called to ask how I could return the extra. They told me to keep it as the seller had already been reimbursed.
I've never heard of this happening. Here in Australia, the confirmation of delivery generally comes within 5 minutes of the item been delivered. Regardless of who is delivering it. Never had confirmation early and very very rarely get it late.
@@MsAussieSheila That can be a case for specific delivery service/area/just a weird mistake. Company`s operate in different, and sometimes very weird ways.
Definitely looks like Wish themselves are in on it but I can't understand why they blocked your account before you complained
To prevent him from refunding the item
They get a hundred people to buy, that is 3 grand they get, so they send one out to get their five star review and the scammer makes 2 grand.
As far as instant refunds, that is data mining. Once you buy something, they get all you info.
I could see the scam working around Christmas. I’ve had presents show up I completely forgot I ordered. So I could see something fall through the cracks for someone who orders a ton of stuff and forgets they ordered nonexistent crap off Wish.
Man. That insight at the end is really devastating. Thank you for the work that you do.
It's called Wish because you wish you actually received something.
The possibility I thought of (video paused to make this prediction), is something I've seen on Pleasant Green: it will turn out that you ordered "version x" of the item when you placed your order, where "version y" is the "real" item (but of course there's no way to select it) and "version x" will be something else, like a super cheap bag for the "mini-computer" or some other dumb add-on.
eBay is flooded with those too
Something I noticed they did before is after an item was purchased, they added new pictures of the actual item that was being delivered.
Maybe they will send you a broken one, and when you go to return it, they will request that it be sent to a new address(likely the next victim) and they will request your PayPal info so that they can send you money to get a return label. This happened to me, so let's see what happens in your case.
Another point to consider - interest. Any monies paid sit in an account until they're reclaimed. In that time, they earn interest. Sure, the money goes back eventually, but then another mark will have paid that money again.
Each transaction might only earn a tiny amount, but if they get a few hundred people buying the scam a week, then repaying that money a few months down the line, the whole time topping up with new marks and scams, then you have an account that is always earning.
Very interesting, thanks! Pleasant Green often gets stuff from Wish to see what shows up and it is almost always awful quality or not what he ordered.
Loved the video! While I like to think that I would not fall for most of this kind of scams (but without saying "never"), I didn't consider the fact that I could be giving them, you know, the kind of information we should never give to a stranger on the internet (sorry, I can't remember the exact quote right now).
...and I'm kind of sad that you didn't get those shell glasses. On purple.
I have a $70 generator STILL on an alleged dock in Sydney, only waiting for customs clearance for past 3 years.....
Fantastic work... You always do such amazing little one offs like this.
Keep fighting the good fight brother. I really adore your work!
I have had Amazon packages show up a couple of days after they were marked as delivered, but that probably says more about Amazon than Wish
Or the "quality" of the delivery services in your area.
or the classic drive by and claim you weren't there
Amazon is getting to be more like Wish every day.
Love stuff like this, always enjoy seeing your uploads!
Another possibility, there are probably things on wish that are intentional knockoffs trying to replicate a specific commercial product that would take someone who knows what to look for to tell it apart from the genuine thing. Like for the game pad they could replicate the outer casing but throw the cheapest possible components inside and throw andriod on it or something. I’d imagine this is more common for midrange priced things so they can afford to make it functionally resemble the product. Things as cheap as $20 are more likely to be what you said
Great video. Working in online retail, just one comment regarding "parcel may show a few days after it's marked as delivered"; it's completely honest, specially when shipping from one country to another. Sometimes the parcel is marked as delivered when the parcel is passed on to the local carrier. Because the service by the original carrier is completed, then it's marked in the system as delivered, yet still the customer may have to wait several days until the local carrier makes the delivery. Sometimes is just scanned or someone introduces the wrong code somewhere for the parcel and is marked as delivered. Of course, this is not the case for this video, but just would like to clarify that this is something that happens all the time, so I consider it to be a valid argument by Wish's bot for legitimate parcels.
I have ordered a lot of stuff online, including from overseas and having worked in logistics, I've never heard of this. If it happens, I don't think it happens here. Proof of delivery is proof of *delivery*
Paused at 2:55 . My guess is that it will arrive as a lookalike keychain or something like that, in which case the seller can argue that you got the thing you have seen in the product page.
I had no idea wish could lock an account, I don't think I've ever seen that before :/ great video shrimp :)
£10 shipping on an £18 item - only at Wish! :D :D Great video, as always. Love to do chores or tinker with stuff, with your voice in the background.
I really enjoy these types of videos, I understand not wanting to give these people money but it's very interesting to see the processes that happens with these scams. Too bad nothing showed up at your door, Would have been fun to see what kind of monstrosity they cobbled together to pass off as the real thing lol.
Almost fifty years ago, I was in the room when the owner of a large US mail-order retail company openly stated that if he had an item in his catalog whose defect rate was 100%, as long as the price was under $5, he'd get less than one in ten returned for a refund. Adjusting for inflation, and adding a bit of a correction factor for the relatively greater ease of simply filing a complaint via the Web, I think we need to consider the idea that the whole scam may be nothing more than the safe and secure knowledge that most people will write off a small loss, provided that recovering it is too much bother. They know that they can steal a small amount from a great many people, and get to keep more of it than they are compelled to give back.
Thank you for this. I've been looking for a way to show people I know to be careful on Wish. More often than not I feel their listings are too good to be true.
I think they make the customer wait for a delivery(that will never happen)so long a percentage will literally forget they placed an order and will not claim their money back.
Never underestimate the power of malice..
Hope, trust, and optimism. Are good qualities to have. But whenever you're dealing with money (that isn't charity) you have to expect some amount of... "uneven representation of actual value." Which makes sense, everyone has to eat. But there's a lot of mouths between manufacturers and end users.